Rania Abu Shamala
16 January 2025•Update: 16 January 2025
ISTANBUL
Hamas political bureau member Khalil al-Hayya said Wednesday that the Palestinian people “will not forget anyone who took part in the war of genocide.”
“What the (Israeli) occupation and its supporters committed -- from a brutal genocidal war to Nazi-like crimes -- will remain etched in the memory of our people and the world as the most heinous genocide of the modern era,” he said at a press conference.
“In this historic moment, we extend words of pride and honor to our people in Gaza,” he added.
Al-Hayya also recalled “the honorable stances of all countries that supported us in various fields, especially our brothers in Türkiye, South Africa, Algeria, Russia, China, Malaysia and Indonesia.”
He said “the criminal occupation was met with the resilience of our people and their steadfast attachment to their land, failing to achieve any of its secret or declared objectives.”
“Our people stood firm on their land, neither fleeing nor migrating, and served as the protective shield for their resistance."
Regarding the massive destruction inflicted on Gaza by the Israeli genocidal war, al-Hayya said that "with Allah's help first, and then with the support of our brothers, allies and all those who stand in solidarity, we will rebuild Gaza anew.”
He affirmed that Israel “achieved nothing but destruction, devastation and massacres against our people. It only secured its captives through an agreement with the resistance to halt the war and aggression and through an honorable prisoner exchange deal.”
Al-Hayya also expressed gratitude to the Houthi group in Yemen, Hezbollah and Iran for their support for Gaza.
He praised the significant role played by Qatar and Egypt, noting that they "exerted strenuous efforts and conducted multiple rounds of negotiations from day one to stop the aggression and the genocidal war against our people."
Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani confirmed the agreement at a news conference in the capital Doha, which will come into effect on Sunday.
He outlined the first phase, which will last for 42 days and include the release of 33 Israeli detainees in exchange for a number of Palestinian prisoners.
The announcement comes on day 467 of Israel's genocide against Gaza, which with US backing has killed and wounded more than 156,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children.
The war has left more than 11,000 people missing, with widespread destruction and a humanitarian crisis that has claimed the lives of many elderly people and children in one of the worst global humanitarian disasters in recent times.
